Week 8

Four potential areas in which to find narrative nonfiction:  history 909, more likely 930-999; science (and math) 500s; travel 910-919; medical 610-619.

I confess I like my nonfiction dry, but reading adult fiction sometimes feels more like homework than pleasure.  Narrative nonfiction is a good bridge, as on the whole it tends to be a quicker read than more academic nonfiction, and as noted in the presentation uses a style familiar to readers of fiction, with many of the same factors of appeal.  To readers of fiction I would recommend the following nonfiction titles.  The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan (978) in history, for those interested in a moving read about the Dust Bowl and the follies that lead to one of the greatest ecological disasters of the twentieth century.  Great Plains by Ian Frazier (917.804) in travel, a rambling homage to the history and present of the sparsely populated region between the midwest and the Rockies for those fond of Ivan Doig, Kent Haruf, or Louise Erdrich.  Stiff by Mary Roach (611) in medical, for those with an offbeat sense of humor and who don't mind the gory details of the strange things that have been done to human cadavers over the centuries.  And finally in science (specifically 569), Brian M. Fagan's Cro Magnon, an accessible work on human origins, for those who enjoy Jean M. Auel.  There's also the possibility of alternative formats--Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks is a great history graphic novel for those interested in African American or WWI history.  Or Trinity: a graphic history of the first atomic bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, a stark look at the development of the atomic bomb and the scientists behind it (623.4511).

Book talk for The Worst Hard Time:  Everybody knows about the Okies--migrant farmers who fled the devastation of the Dust Bowl for (they hoped) clearer horizons and better opportunities.  Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time is a bleak look at the lives of those who remained on their Dust Bowl farms during one of history's greatest ecological and economic disasters.  As a combination of overfarming, drought, and wind stripped the topsoil from thousands of acres of prairie, the people who had once farmed the land suddenly found the land to be their greatest enemy.

Book talk for Trinity:  Jonathan Fetter-Vorm's graphic novel Trinity is a succinct, compelling history of the atomic bomb.  Black-and-white illustrations create a stark, dramatic atmosphere--fitting for one of the greatest and most terrible scientific achievements of the twentieth century.  I'd recommend this to anyone interested in either the history or the science of atomic research.  To those wary of graphic novels--give this one a try.  You won't be disappointed.  The illustrations add a profoundly powerful element to the story without being distracting or cluttered, especially the double page spread of the Trinity test site the night the first atomic bomb was detonated.

Week 7

I read New Adult:  Needless Marketing Speak or Valued Subgenre and Look Homeward, Reader:  A Not-So-Young Audience for Young Adult Books.  Full confession here:  YA may be my least favorite age literary age group.  I love children's books; just never got bit by the YA bug.  That said, I'm not surprised that it's widely read by adults my age (slightly older than 'new adult') and older.  I have some suspicions about the impact of the book-to-bigscreen market, which seems to disproportionately affect YA, but I'm sure that's not all there is to it.  Meg Wolitzer quotes one critic, who says "YA endings are uniformly satisfying."  I fail to see why the critic is complaining about that, since the point of reading would seem to me to leave the book satisfied in one way or another.  Otherwise you might as well just be doing a school assignment--read, report, move on to the next item.  YA is not to my tastes, but it's enough for me to know that it is to the tastes of many readers.  The trick is knowing when to suggest a YA book to an older reader (a skill I haven't yet mastered).

Regarding the term 'new adult', I agree it has some value as a marketing tool, although I wouldn't try to treat it as a separate genre from 'old' adult fiction.  As far as libraries are concerned, I think we should just be aware of the term and what's being marketed under it to point patrons in the right direction.  

I followed Shannon Hale's blog and Someday My Printz Will Come.  Can I talk about how much I LOVE Shannon Hale's awareness of issues of gender and reading?  How 'girl' books are simply not offered to boys, and how female authors are only considered relevant to girls?  So far I've only read Hale's "Princess in Black."  I'm definitely going to fix that.  We, librarians, are in the perfect position to help fix that problem--and yet we rarely do.  I can seldom pull off convincing a boy to read a book with a girl on the cover, even if it's a survival story (Julie of the Wolves) or an action/sci-fi (The Search for WondLa).  When they see a picture of a girl on the cover they just shut down.  And there's always that fumble when the book doesn't have an obvious cover--the "The main character is a girl but."  But what?  Parents aren't helpful here either--I had one mother today turn down Stella by Starlight for her son because it's about a girl (even though it's not about a girl, any more than Bud, Not Buddy is about a boy).  I can't predict how her opinions on these matters will influence other readers, but I know I went from 'vaguely aware' to 'highly interested' after reading her thoughts on this eternally relevant issue.

Someday My Printz Will Come is the blog of YALSA's Printz Award, given to excellent teen books. Definitely a handy resource, even retrospectively (award season is not yet upon us).  It's a great general guide to the what's what of recent young adult fiction (and nonfiction), with due consideration to diversity in YA publishing (something that can seem lacking when only looking at the list of winners).

Checked out Harlequin Teen (is it just me or does that seem...wrong, somehow?) and Harper Teen. Trends seem to still be fantasy oriented, as well as dystopian.  Lots of romance, and a number of series that seem to be continuing (like Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series).

Week 6 (back from vacation and playing catch-up...)

Assignment 1:  Street Fiction has been kind of an eye-opener.  I already knew urban fiction is a booming genre, and I was aware of some of the sub-genres (like urban fantasy).  I learned that there's much more overlap between urban Christian fiction and erotica that I would ever have guessed.  The website provides blurbs of decent length about recent releases as well as a link to their bestsellers on Amazon.com; however, they don't say when the item was released, or will be released (if not already).  To me, the most interesting feature was that it seems to be fueled by self-promotion--that is, authors can submit their own works free of charge to be featured on the website.  This explains some of the uneven quality to the book blurbs (and sometimes cover art).

Assignment 2 & 3:  Legal thriller, culinary caper mystery, and literary urban fiction.  John Grisham, Linda Fairstein, and Lisa Scottoline are all well-known writers of legal thrillers.  I believe the appeal of a legal thriller is the detail given to legal proceedings, which may be glossed over elsewhere.  Culinary capers are extremely similar to cozies, in that they lack the grittiness found in other mystery subgenres.  The appeal is the plot and the detail of the protagonist's day job, not the brutality of the crime (which is largely offscreen).  Dianne Mott Davidson and Alexander Campion are two authors to look for here.  Literary urban fiction, such as that written by Sister Souljah and Wahida Clark, are gritty, realistic portrayals of street life.  They are concerned with the issues facing African American characters living in inner city areas, such as drugs and gang violence.

Christian fiction is a fairly pervasive subgenre across the board.  For example, Christian historical fiction, such as anything written by Julie Klassen or Tracie Peterson.  Post-apocalyptic magic realism is another possible genre crossover, like Nnedi Okorafor's novel Who Fears Death, which is the story of a young woman in post-apocalyptic Africa (in what used to be Sudan) who is born with magical abilities.  Magic is a much greater part of this world than technology, and far more common.   

Week 5: Early Word

Since Early Word was the resource I selected back in week 1, I'm combining assignments 1&2.  The first thing that stands out about Early Word is the links.  Links to everything!  The left sidebar features internal links to tagged categories or to publisher pages; the left sidebar is for external links (awards pages, Amazon's best of the month, Publisher's Weekly, etc.).  I do enjoy a well-organized website, so I found the tags (for everything from genre to format to Oprah's book club to author deaths) to make focused browsing very easy.  There are a TON of awards lists, bestseller lists, and a whole list of official websites for movies/tv shows based on books.  In fact, the focus on tv/film on the first page of the site was unexpected.  It makes sense--when a movie or show based on a book goes out, checkouts and holds on that title skyrocket.  For some reason it just hadn't occurred to me that there would be professional resources out there to help us anticipate that particular demand (other than keeping our own eyes on upcoming movie releases).  I signed up for the newsletter; we'll see what I continue to use.

Assignment 3:  The Wicked + the Divine Volume 2: Fandemonium by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie.  Readers following this comic book series may be surprised by Laura's new relationship to the divine aspect of this world where the gods are pop stars (or is it vice-versa?).  Those unfamiliar will want to pick up Volume 1--The Faust Act--first.  The Wicked + the Divine is definitely on the superficial side of mythological adaptations, but it's an excellent satire of pop culture.  What truly makes this book great is the artwork.  The goddess Sekhmet bearing a startling resemblance to Rihanna?  Lucifer as David Bowie during the Thin White Duke days?  And Matt Wilson's colors are to die for."Edgy" themes and characters discovering that they are incarnated deities will appeal pop savvy teens and college-aged adults.